... there's a milestone to celebrate (and I'm committing to rave once a month instead of always ranting, as per doctor's orders).
Lookit -- except for a few memorable incidents that will make interesting stories on other days in other posts, I am a man of my word.
So if I said, "I'll put in on Facebook when we make 20 years", and then, on Sep 22, 2018, we indeed have been together for all of 240 months (we celebrated month-aversaries for quite awhile in the beginning of the relationship, so that counting mechanism stuck), well then I best make it official on the Facebook.
Note -- we celebrate the day we met instead of our wedding day (in December 2015), because it took a hell of a long time for the Supremes to make it possible to even get married in the state where we were living at the time.
Also note -- this information was previously on a "need to know" basis, so some of you may be hearing this for the first time, or may have known but didn't want to bring it up, or you knew because you came to visit us in any of our households over the years, or you found out because you saw when a co-worker or a family member of a new friend made a comment on the Facebook that inadvertently and nonmaliciously outed the relationship before my target date.
Also also note -- I made decisions about who knew what when based on my evaluation as to whether you could "handle" the news, so don't take it personally if you're only finding out now. And keep in mind -- we still live in a world where my sharing this news publicly can mean that I could get legally get fired ... or lose a lease ... or not be able to buy cake ... so there are potential consequences of various degrees to this decision.
Final note -- this post is about celebrating my 20th anniversary with Chris L. We can discuss labels and obligations and the community and everything I've learned on a personal level later.
Instead -- tonight I say to Chris (and to all the internet via that thing that is the Facebook) -- I love you for who you are and what we've done and where we've been. I love you for the memories we've made, for the life we've lived and for the families we've raised. I love you for Harrisburg, and for Chicago, and for Ft Lauderdale and for all the places we've visited together.
I love you for 20 years past ... and for 20 years to come, should we be that lucky.
And, as promised, NOW it's Facebook official. (If you're reading it there, you'll find 20 photos from 1998-2018 to catch y'all up. If you're reading it on the blog, here are just a few.)
